Otter Limits

Archive for the ‘descendents’ Category

The Tuesday Shuffle

without comments

  1. Harmless – Helmet (from Aftertaste)
  2. Where Moth and Rust Destroy – Tourniquet (Where Moth and Rust Destroy)
  3. The Perfect Night – Haste the Day (When Everything Falls)
  4. Get On Your Boots – U2 (No Line on the Horizon)
  5. When I Grow Up – Garbage (Version 2.0)
  6. Lifesong – Casting Crowns (Lifesong)
  7. Dreams – Descendents (Cool to be You)
  8. Drug Train – Social Distortion (Social Distortion)
  9. Minority – Green Day (Warning)
  10. Peace – Weezer (Make Believe)
  11. Mediate – INXS (Kick)
  12. Girlfriend – Matthew Sweet (Girlfriend)

Written by otterlimits

June 2, 2009 at 5:32 pm

Posted in U2, descendents, iPod, lists, music, ottertainment

Music Labels

with 4 comments

This post is a response of sorts to one of Dave’s comments on my Labels post. 

I have always thought that labels within rock music, especially within punk rock, served no useless purpose and consider them, like Dave said, nonsense.
Take for instance the genre “alternative.” This is a ridiculous label and whoever thought it up should be hung upside down by their shoestrings!  I hate this label! It does not describe a single thing in regards to music. Alternative to what? When I hear the term “alternative” in regards to music, I have to ask “What do they sound like?” because that term is a meaningless term. 
Alternative is used way too often. Alternative rock. Meaningless. Alternative clothing. Alternative to what clothing?!? Alternative life-styles. Are we basically just saying this as a more gentle way of calling some one’s lifestyle not normal? 
Yeah, alternative doesn’t describe a damn thing to me and people should stop using it.
Grunge rock is another stupid term. I think this was originally used to describe a cross breed of heavy metal and punk. Just what we need. Words to describe hybrid music and to further darken the issue of what a band sounds like.
I do agree that SOME of the labels do well to describe a particular style of music. “Soul” or “rap” for instance. You have a pretty good idea what you are about to listen to when you hear these genres.
But labels like “rock” “hard rock” “heavy metal” you really have no idea what you could be getting yourself into.
And the punk rock sub-genres. Some of them are completely useless. I don’t understand the difference between “street punk” and “crust punk” and “hardcore.” I have no idea of how a person distinguishes an “emo” band from an “indie rock” band or a “math rock” band.
And “surf punk” or “skate punk.” Aren’t these basically the same thing? Do I have to be a surfer to like “surf punk?” And weren’t the Beach Boys considered “surf rock?”
A lot of times you can’t always tell if a band is punk rock or just rock. Take the Descendents for instance. They are not necessarily what I would call a “punk rock” band. There is a lot of pop music in their style. So thus, they get lumped into the “pop punk” category. Which of course serves to further confuse the issue.
Whenever someone asks me what type of music my band plays, I usually respond “I dunno. punk maybe. indie rock maybe.” What type of punk? “I dunno, maybe pop punk.”  Then to try and make it easier to understand I tell the person that some of our stuff sounds like this band but other songs sound closer to stuff done by that band. I try to make it simple by saying any punk or indie rock which of course does not help.
And the more I think about it, the term indie rock is almost as stupid a term as alternative. It doesn’t describe crap. “What type of band are they?” Indie rock. “Ok but what do they sound like?” 
That is the problem with these labels. Practically all of them. If I have to ask someone more than one question to get an idea of what a band sounds like, the label(s) isn’t working!
Heck, even with country music these days you need to add a modifier to what an artist or band sounds like.
Come to think of it, even rap has sub-genres. Gangsta rap. East coast rap. West coast swing. Hip Hop. WTH?!?!
Oh and electronic music! That is a crazy one I will ever figure out. Industrial. Rave. Trip hop. Electronica. Synth pop. And some of these even cross over. Industrial can fall under heavy metal. Trip hop can cross over into rap. Come on! Do you really have to make this MORE difficult? No crossing over! Pick a genre!
Just for grins, I thought I would check out my iPod and go through a general breakdown of what genres I have on it (iTunes assigns a genre to music). So here is what I came up with:
Christian – there are 43 songs in this genre
Christian Hardcore – 150 songs
Hard Rock – 3
Indie Rock – 142
Metal – 28
Pop – 4
Punk – 507
R&B – 7
Rock – 436
Rock/Pop – 22
iTunes is not helping this issue!
And now here is a list of some of the genres and subgenres with a very short description of what each one means and an artist or band that someone has assigned to that particular genre. I used several resources to get these descriptions and thus did not bother to quote any of them.
rock – a style of popular music that derives in part from blues and folk music and is marked by a heavily accented beat and a simple, repetitive phrase structure.  That’s a pretty non-specific, generic definition.
heavy metal – very loud, brash rock music, often with shouted, violent lyrics. Couldn’t this refer to punk too?
Bands: Black Sabbath, Kiss, AC/DC, Def Leppard, Iron Maiden. hmmm…i never thought of Def Leppard as a band with violent lyrics
hard rock – the original form of rock’n'roll, basically dependent on a consistently loud and strong beat.
Bands: The Who, Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith, Van Halen
soft rock – a comparatively unaggressive, melodic style of rock’n'roll in which the arrangement and lyrics are emphasized more than the beat.
Bands: Air Supply, Billy Joel, James Taylor…
rockabilly – a form of popular music combining features of rock’n'roll and bluegrass.
Bands: Amazing Royal Crowns, Hot Rod Lincoln, The Stray Cats
pop music – a genre of music that features a noticeable rhythmic element, catchy melodies and hooks, a mainstream style and conventional structure. Mainstream? huh?
Artists: Michael Jackson, Madonna, Police
Pop rock – a hybrid of pop music and rock music that uses catchy pop style with light lyrics over top of guitar-based songs.
Artists: Rod Stewart, Elton John, Peter Frampton, Chicago..
alternative – a genre of rock music consisting of various subgenres that emerged from the independent music scene since the 1980s. Absolutely ridiculous definition. means nothing as I have said about this genre.
punk rock – aggressive form of rock music marked by a fast, aggressive beat, loud guitar with abrupt chord changes and nihilistic lyrics.
Bands include: Black Flag, X, Sex Pistols, Dead Kennedys.
pop punk – a fusion genre that combines elements of punk rock with pop music.
Bands include: Ramones, Descendents, Buzzcocks.
hardcore punk – subgenre of punk rock that is generally thicker, heavier and faster than punk rock where songs are usually short, fast and loud.
Bands: Black Flag, Bad Brains, Minor Threat.
emo – rock music typically characterized by melodic musicianship and expressive, confessional lyrics.
Bands: Sunny Day Real Estate, Embrace, Rites of Spring.
screamo – evolving from hardcore punk, this subgenre applies to a more aggressive offshoot of emo using short, chaotically executed songs.
ska – genre originating from Jamaica that combined elements of Caribbean music and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues characterized by a walking bass line accented with offbeat rhythms.
ska punk – a fusion genre that combines ska and punk rock containing
Bands: The Specials, The Beat, Operation Ivy.
indie rock – a subgenre of alternative rock oh great! that refers to rock musicians that are or were unsigned or have signed to independent record labels. so…that would make Black Flag and Bad Religion indie rock>.
Bands: Aztec Camera, The Smiths, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Husker Du.
Oi – working class street-level subgenre of punk rock with simple musical structure.
Bands: Street Dogs, Dropkick Murphys, The Business.
street punk – working class subgenre of punk rock that emerged from the oi style characterized by single note guitar lines and short solos.
Bands: Sham 69, Angelic Upstarts, UK Subs.
skate punk - originally a derivative of hardcore punk, it is fast and aggressive but focuses more on melodic and harmonious vocals and usually more technical.
Bands: JFA, Agent Orange, Suicidal Tendancies, Pennywise.
math rock – rhythmically complex, guitar-based style of rock music that is characterized by complex, atypical rhythmic structures including irregular stopping and starting, angular melodies and dissonant chords.
rhythm and blues (R&B) – was originally called “race music” or “black music” it refers to any music made by and for black Americans combining styles of jazz, blues, pop and gospel. this sounds damn racist if you ask me.
soul – combines elements of gospel and R&B using catchy rhythms and an intense vocal sound.
Artists: Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Marvin Gaye, Gladys Knight.
rap – music characterized by the rhythmic spoken delivery of rhymes, wordplay and poetry delivered over a beat.
hip hop – consists of a rhythmic vocal style accompanied with backing beats. term is used synonymously with rap.
Artists: Grandmaster Flash, The Sugarhill Gang.
gangsta rap - genre of hip hop that reflects the violent lifestyles of inner-city youths. 
Artists: Ice T, NWA, Boogie Down Productions, Ice Cube.

industrial - music comprising many styles of experimental music and electronic music characterized by an abrasive and aggressive fusion of rock and electronic music.
Bands: Throbbing Gristle, Front 242, KMFDM, Ministry
rave – consists of forms of electronic dance music including some forms of trance music which features samples, loops and synthesizers.
Bands: The KLF, 808 State, DJ Scot Project
trip hop – refers to a music trend of downtempo electronic music characterized by breakbeats and a sample-heavy, moody sound.
Bands: Massive Attack, Portishead.
new wave – emerging from punk rock, it incorporated various influences such as electronic music, disco, and funk.
Bands:  Talking Heads, Television, Blondie.
synth pop – subgenre of new wave and pop music where the synthesize is the dominant musical instrument.
Bands: Kraftwerk, Flock of Seagulls, Spandau Ballet.
So there you have it. Does that help you at all to describe a band’s music? Not me. These descriptions seem to confuse me more often than they help.
My brain is starting to hurt.  
It is time to go back to the drawing board on the naming of music genres!!!

Written by otterlimits

April 17, 2009 at 5:18 am

Posted in descendents, music, otisburg, ottertainment

Top 9 ALL/Descendents Songs

with one comment

This is an idea that Dave and I came up with. His list is already posted here.

I have to say this was a really difficult list to come up with.

These lists by the way are in no way in any order of preference so keep that in mind.

ALL

She’s My Ex (from Allroy’s Revenge)
Just Perfect (Allroy for Prez)
Breaking Up (Pummel)
Better Than That (Problematic)
Minute (Percolator)
Until Then (Mass Nerder)
Shreen (Breaking Things)
Skin Deep (Live Plus One)
Refrain (Mass Nerder)

DESCENDENTS

Silly Girl (from I Don’t Wanna Grow Up)
‘Merican (Cool To Be You / Merican ep)
Get The Time (Enjoy!)
I’m the One (Everything Sucks)
Hope (Milo Goes to College)
When I Get Old (Everything Sucks)
Coolidge (All)
Everything Sucks (Everything Sucks)
Clean Sheets (All)

Update: For those that are interested, here are the songs that ended up on both of our lists:

ALL
She’s My Ex
Shreen
Better Than That
Skin Deep
Just Perfect

DESCENDENTS
Hope
Silly Girl
Coolidge
Merican
Get the Time

Written by otterlimits

April 3, 2009 at 5:48 pm

Posted in descendents, lists, music, ottertainment

Milo Interviews

without comments

Milo Aukerman, born in 1964 is the singer for the band Descendents. He also holds a PhD in biochemistry.  He has been married since 1996 and has 2 children.
Below are a list (with links) of some of the various interviews that he has done over the years. I think you might find them quite enjoyable.
Milo Aukerman: Nerd King of Punk Rock by Mike Powsner
This one was taken sometime after the released of 1996’s Everything Sucks.
The Dirty Dozen: 12 Question Interview by Playboy.com by Antonia Simigis
In this interview he mostly talks about sex (consider the source of the interview).  This was taken from their official website because the original link is broken. You will need to scroll down a bit to read this particular interview.

Ten Questions With Milo by Dane Jackson
Same link from the official website. Again, you will need to scroll down some to read it. This was done after the released on 2004’s Cool To Be You.

20 Questions with Milo from Juice Magazine by Charles Glover
Sorry, same link. Same scrolling. This interview was done in September 1995 so that would have been shortly before the release of Everything Sucks.  From reading the interview I don’t think he knew that he would soon be releasing another album with the Descendents shortly after that interview or he was really keeping Charles Glover in the dark. 

Okay, that is it for now. Enjoy!!!

Written by otterlimits

April 2, 2009 at 4:33 am

Posted in descendents, music, ottertainment

Singles and EPs Released by Descendents/All

with one comment

This is a list of releases by the band(s) Descendents and All. But just a list of their singles and EPs. When I first envisioned putting out this list I thought it would be a pretty long list. Apparently it was not near as long as I had thought.  Oh well, here it is anyway.

DESCENDENTS

Ride the Wild
Released in 1979
Band lineup:
Frank Navetta – vocals/guitar; Tony Lombardo – bass/vocals; Bill Stevenson-drums
Tracks:
Ride the Wild. It’s a Hectic World.

Fat
Released in 1981.
Lineup changes:
Milo Aukerman added as vocalist.
Tracks:
My Dad Sucks. Mr Bass. Hey Hey. I Like Food. Wienerschnitzel. Global Probing.

Enjoy 7″
Released in 1986.
Lineup changes:
Ray Cooper replaced Frank Navetta on guitar and Doug Carrion replaced Tony Lombardo on bass.
Tracks:
Enjoy. Wendy. Green.

Clean Sheets
Released in 1987.
Lineup changes:
Stephen Egerton took over on guitar and Karl Alvarez took over on bass.
Tracks:
Clean Sheets. Coolidge.

When I Get Old promo CD
Released in 1996.
No lineup changes.
Tracks:
When I Get Old.

I’m the One promo CD
Released in 1996.
No lineup changes.
Tracks:
I’m the One

When I Get Old
Released in 1996.
Tracks:
When I Get Old. Gotta. Sick-O-Me.

I’m the One
Released in 1996.
Tracks:
I’m the One. Everything Sucks. Lucky. Shattered Milo.

Sessions
Released in 1997
Tracks:
Gotta. Grand Theme.

Merican
Released in 2004.
Tracks:
Nothing With You. Merican. Here With Me. I Quit.

ALL

Allroy for Prez
Released in 1988.
Band lineup:
Dave Smalley – vocals; Stephen Egerton – guitart; Karl Alvarez – bass/vocals; Bill Stevenson – drums.
Tracks:
Just Perfect. Skin Deep. Wrong Again. I Hate to Love. Wishing Well. Son-O-Qua. Postage. Daveage.

She’s My Ex
Released in 1989.
Lineup changes:
Scott Reynold took over on vocals.
Tracks:
She’s My Ex. Crazy.

Dot
Released in 1992.
No lineup changes.
Tracks:
Dot. A Boy Named Sue. Can’t Say.

Shreen
Released in 1994.
Lineup changes:
Chad Price took over on vocals.
Tracks:
Shreen. Original Me. Crucified.

Guilty
Released in 1994.
No lineup changes.
Tracks:
Guilty. All’s Fair. Man’s World.

Written by otterlimits

April 2, 2009 at 4:05 am

Posted in descendents, discography, lists, music, ottertainment

America: Love It AND Hate It?

with 5 comments

I got the inspiration for this post from a Descendents song titled ‘Merican.

America is a great place. But it sucks too.

There are many great things that have come out of the United States. To name a few, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, the airplane, jazz, baseball, I can go on.

On the flip side, there are some really horrible things that have come out of America too. The KKK, McCarthyism, the nuclear bomb, and the perpetuation of war. Again, I could go on but you get the picture.

The point, which is made quite clear from the song, is that there are many things to be proud of as an American. But there are also many things to be ashamed of as an American.

Every time I see a bumper sticker that says “American, Love It or Leave It!” I think, what a big pile of dog crap. I don’t have leave. Why should I? If there is something about this country I want to gripe about, I have every right to gripe about it. Why should I leave because there is something about our nation I don’t like? Just to make those full blown flag waving nothing is wrong with our country people feel comfortable? Heck no! If you don’t like what I have to say, don’t talk to me. Don’t read my stuff. Stick it! But don’t tell ME to leave.

Just because I (or any other person) hates certain aspects of this country or something that our nation does, whatever that might be, does not mean I just out right hate the country.

I am proud to be an American. I am proud to claim citizenship of this great country. I’m not leaving. I love it. But it sucks sometimes too.

America. I can love it AND hate it. So get over it.

Written by otterlimits

April 1, 2009 at 7:31 pm

Posted in On the Issues, descendents, politics, war

Top 14

with 2 comments

I got the idea for this post from a recent one by Dave over at Oklahoma Lefty.

This one is a list of my Top 14 Favorite bands and listed next to each is the title of one of their albums. The album listed is the one that I feel if you only listen to one of their albums this is the one it should be.
U2 – The Joshua Tree

  1. Descendents – Everything Sucks
  2. Weezer – Weezer (blue)
  3. The Beatles – 1 (One)
  4. Emery – I’m Only a Man
  5. Stavesacre – How to Live With a Curse
  6. Smoking Popes/Duvall – Destination Failure
  7. MxPx – Panic or Before Everything & After *
  8. Bad Religion – Stranger Than Fiction
  9. Acceptance – Phantoms
  10. Living Sacrifice – In Memorium
  11. Screeching Weasel – Bark Like a Dog or My Brain Hurts *
  12. Pink Floyd – The Wall
  13. Green Day – Warning

*yeah I know there are 2, i couldn’t make up my mind with these.

14. All – Pummel (forgot to add this one, originally had Descendents/All combined but I decided I would separate them for this post).

Written by otterlimits

March 31, 2009 at 8:23 pm

Posted in U2, descendents, lists, music, ottertainment

Ranking the Descendents/All

with 3 comments

I did one of these recently for U2 and at Dave’s suggestion decided to go ahead and rank the albums for the Descendents and All.

Technically, these are the same band but I chose to split them out because trying to rank all of these albums on their own is not something I want to try and get into at this time.

Anyway, here they are. The albums of the Descendents and All in order of preference!

Thanks for the suggestion Dave!

Descendents

Everything Sucks
Merican
Cool To Be You
Enjoy!
I Don’t Want to Grow Up
All
Milo Goes to College
Bonus Fat

ALL

Pummel
Problematic
Mass Nerder
Breaking Things
Allroy’s Revenge
Allroy Saves
Allroy for Prez
Allroy Sez
Percolator

Written by otterlimits

March 6, 2009 at 7:24 pm

Posted in descendents, lists, music, ottertainment

Essential Pop Punk Albums

with 3 comments

I got this idea from Dave earlier tonight.  Thanks Dave!

Pop punk is essentially a genre of music that fuses elements of pop music and punk rock. I have compiled this list in order of the album’s release date. 

  1. All the Stuff and More Vol 1 (Ramones)
  2. All the Stuff and More Vol 2 (Ramones)
  3. Somery (Descendents)
  4. My Brain Hurts (Screeching Weasel)
  5. Anthem for a New Tomorrow (Screeching Weasel)
  6. Dookie (Green Day)
  7. Born to Quit (Smoking Popes)
  8. Leche Con Carne (No Use for a Name)
  9. Everything Sucks (Descendents)
  10. Face to Face (Face to Face)
  11. Bark Like a Dog (Screeching Weasel)
  12. Have A Ball (Me First and the Gimme Gimmes)
  13. Destination Failure (Smoking Popes)
  14. Eve 6 (Eve 6)
  15. Horrorscope (Eve 6)
  16. Warning (Green Day)
  17. Take a Break (Me First and the Gimme Gimmes)
  18. Before Everything and After (MxPx)
  19. American Idiot (Green Day)
  20. Panic (MxPx)
  21. Love Their Country (Me First and the Gimme Gimmes)

Written by otterlimits

January 23, 2009 at 7:34 am

Posted in descendents, lists, music, ottertainment

Top 6 of 6

without comments

I think it has been a little over 6 months since I have updated my favorite stuff. 

Here is my most recent list (in no particular order just as they came to me).  Enjoy!
1.  MOVIES
  • High Fidelity
  • Batman Begins
  • The Departed
  • Mother Night
  • A Few Good Men
  • Dogma
2.  BOOKS
  • Jesus Wants to Save Christians (Rob Bell)
  • This Present Darkness (Frank Peretti)
  • Batman Year One (Frank Miller)
  • Animal Farm (George Orwell)
  • Mother Night (Kurt Vonnegut)
  • The Barbarian Way (Erwin McManus)
3.  ALBUMS
  • Weezer – Weezer (blue)
  • Weezer – Weezer (green)
  • U2 – The Joshua Tree
  • Emery – I’m Only a Man
  • Descendents – Everything Sucks
  • Stavesacre – How to Live With a Curse
4.  SPORTS TEAMS
  • Seattle Seahawks
  • New England Patriots
  • Seattle Mariners
  • Boston Red Sox
  • Vancouver Canucks
  • Chicago Blackhawks
5.  ACTORS
  • John Cusack
  • Harrison Ford
  • Gary Oldman
  • Adam Sandler
  • George Clooney
  • Winona Ryder
6.  COMIC BOOK CHARACTERS
  • Batman
  • Captain Marvel (Shazam)
  • Punisher
  • Spider-Man
  • Hulk
  • Doctor Doom

Written by otterlimits

January 17, 2009 at 7:39 am

Posted in U2, books, comics, descendents, fiction, lists, movies, music, nonfiction, ottertainment, sports, super heroes

« Older Entries